Parker Red and Brooklyn GrangeTeam Up For A Tomato-tastic Nightwith Son of A Southern Chef

We were so excited to welcome Chef Lazarus (Son of a Southern Chef) into our kitchen last week to do a demo with all of the beautiful tomatoes from The Brooklyn Grange. Check out how he makes a Bloody Mary!

Chefs are talking about Chili Oil! It's a cinch to make and adds serious flavor to all sorts of things. Serious Eats interviewed chefs to see what they do with it. Answers vary from Hot Chocolate Bananas to fried oysters to game. Check out the article here.

Uni is the new Foie Gras. One restaurant in LA, Chaya, has based its entire menu around the sea urchin (the edible part is actually its gonads...). Check out the article and Chef George Inoue's menu here.

PARKER RED NEWSLETTER #4

The goal of these newsletters will be to bring to focus trends going on in the food/catering world, keep everyone informed, and have something fun to read in the beginning of the week!

H A P P Y M O N D A Y !

POPULAR FOODS

CHEFS are working with farmers to custom-grow obscure ingredients. Every year, Chef Kyle Bailey, of Birch & Barley, and farmer John Stark go through a rare seeds catalogue and pick out the plants that pique their interest. Among the summer bounty are a couple varieties of okra—including some that are “short and fat and you can’t put your hand around them”—as well as purple jalapeños that are green on the inside. More unusual still: marshmallow flowers and dragon egg cucumbers. “They’re so cool,” Bailey says. “It’s like Game of Thrones.” Read article here.

STREET ART = TRENDY – Don’t be surprised to see your favorite street artists’ latest works on the interior walls of the hot restaurants in town. Artists have realized the advantages to displaying their work in a restaurant vs a gallery. In a restaurant you are IN it, you’re eating, you’ll be there for awhile, and you’re taking it all in. Chefs and owners are commissioning mammoth, eye-catching murals from popular artists. Go check out the walls of Momofuko Ko, David Chang’s new place. The dining room and kitchen walls host 3 full-scale works by his friend, David Choe. Also popular is the black and white mural at DirtCandy. (if you haven’t been, GO. Very creative menu- all vegetarian!) Article here.

GOOP just had their annual dinner party in the hamptons. They posted the full details at this link, but check out some of the apps!

Shabazi Chicken with Grilled Cabbage

Butter Poached Lobster on Toasted Brioche

Kolaches will be the next food to gain a cult following! These Texan treats are officially on the move out of their native state and into our turf! Go check em out at the Brooklyn Kolache Company for flavor inspiration! Washington Post wrote about 'em here. Stay tuned- you'll see them at Ted & Honey Cafe soon! We are hard at work brainstorming fall fillings you will LOVE!

CATERING TRENDS

High-tech, low-glitz décor is a trend on the rise. This doesn't work everywhere, but increasing numbers of high-end clients are asking for very modern, technological kinds of events done at venues like urban warehouses or even commercial settings.

Sweet is savory and savory is sweet. Ice cream with bacon in it. Sliders that are actually a fruit dessert. The ideas are endless. Combining sweet and savory (salted caramel toppings, for example) has become almost commonplace. Now creative chefs are finding ways to actually turn menu concepts upside down (like pancakes that are savory, rather than sweet).

Food and drink pairings are growing in popularity. Sure, you know to have the right wine for each menu item, but do you have the right water? The right fruit juice? The right beer? Offering drinks that complement the food — even mini beverages with hors d'oeuvre — fits with today's particular consumer, and gives you an upsell opportunity.

The sit-down, plated dinner is not endangered, but alternatives are becoming more popular, from entire meals served on small plates, butlered or from stations, todessert-only or hors d'oeuvre-only events.

PARKER RED NEWSLETTER #3

August 10, 2015

The goal of these newsletters will be to bring to focus trends going on in the food/catering world, keep everyone informed, and have something fun to read in the beginning of the week!

Happy National S’mores Day!!!!

POPULAR FOODS

COLESLAW REVAMPED (especially for Fall!) Chefs are forgoing the old Dutch version of coleslaw and removing the cabbage in favor of other veggies. Thin-cut beets, celery root, fennel and carrots add color and the requisite crunch. Kitchn Article Here

NEW YORK CITY’S BEST NEW BAKERY: Arcade Bakery at 220 Church Street has been nominated as one of America’s Best New Restaurants- this traditional bakery is in the lobby of a historic building. Go check it out!

Also on the list is Cosme, Enrique Olvera’s new Mexican joint at 35 E 21st St. Awesome décor and beautifully plated meals.

CORN CORN CORN- New Jersey corn is ON POINT right now. Chefs are finding creative ways to put that sweet summer flavor to use. Here is a corn soup with a crescent of powerful mix-ins: fresh corn, and cornmeal crusted fried rabbit.

CATERING TRENDS

SUSTAINABLE NOODLES! To make the perfect soba noodles, chef Bryce Shuman of Betony in New York City needed alkaline water to give the noodles more structure and a chewy texture. He teamed with the potter who created the restaurant's dishes to recycle the leftover alkaline water used from rinsing ashes for pottery glazes. Article Here.

CATERING DEGREE The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) has just announced the launch of the ‘TUCO Academy,’ which will seek to create a fully accredited training program designed to address the training and professional development needs of caterers in Higher Education. TUCO is in London- first course starts in October. #MastersofCatering ? Check it out here.

THINGS HAPPENING AROUND TOWN

On Tuesday, BARA Restaurant in the East Village will host a Communal Feast created by former Momofuku chef Ian Alvarez. The Tasting Collective-curated event runs $40 per person and is comprised of nine French/Japanese hybrid izakaya dishes, including oysters, mackerel tataki, a flat iron steak and mixed yakitori with duck meatballs and maple mustard pork belly—there's an optional sake and wine pairing, too. The feast kicks off at 8 p.m.; you can purchase a ticket online.

On Wednesday, Betty Brooklyn Catering Company will team up with Local Bushel for a pop-up Provencal tasting dinner at Betty Brooklyn's Crown Heights headquarters. Dishes include Braised Rabbit, phyllo-wrapped prawns, ratatouille and loup de mer en papillote—there are also wine pairings curated by Tipsy. Tickets start at $100 and the diner runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.; purchase a ticket online.

And on Thursday, Blue Marble Dreams, the non-profit arm of Blue Marble Ice Cream, is teaming up with New York Vintners to throw a "Taste of Haiti" event at the Vintners Tribeca shop. The event will benefit Bel Rev, a "unique ice cream social enterprise" based out of Port au Prince that aims to help bolster women, local farmers, and the greater Port au Prince community. Expect to try several local Haitian delicacies paired with wine, along with Blue Marble ice cream for dessert. The event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and costs $75; purchase a ticket online.

I just had to Google blog posts. Not because I don’t technically know what they are, or haven’t read one, but when I sat down to pen a post for our new website ....well that seemed like a useful stall in completing the task at hand. So what is the task at hand? Well, to give a shout out to our new website of course. It’s gorgeous, and still a bit of a work in progress, but we hope you like it as much as we do!

What is even more special about our new website is that it was designed by our very own Will Cevallos - formerly and AKA Billy. Will turned this around in record time, and helped us create a clean, easy on the eyes and user friendly - awesome website. Thank you Will!

For those of you that don’t know Will, he came to us a couple of years ago from Columbus, Ohio. Quiet, under-stated, sweet, cool. Like any normal-dysfunctional family, we all have our roles and moments. I’ll spare you the moments (but come in and we’ll talk) and talk roles.

Will has literally managed to do almost every job/role; each for extended periods of time – not just dabbling within Ted & Honey and Parker Red. Line cook, purchaser, back-end programmer, server/barista, driver (well just that one time) and website designer, all with a smile while going to school for Computer Information Systems.

There are so many wonderful aspects of running a food business; not boasting as there are so many not so wonderful aspects too... plumbing, The Dept of Health, fad food trends, to name a few. Getting to work with, and know people like Will who do every role in the business makes the job incredibly rewarding. But getting to work with, and getting to know people like Will, and so many others that I feel very lucky to have in the Ted & Honey family, is on the top of the list for me.